If a victim or patient has stopped breathing, unless air is promptly and at regular intervals forced into the lungs of that individual, the victim or patient will die. If mechanical resuscitation equipment is not available, rescuers and emergency care providers are forced to rely on mouth-to-mouth resuscitation when attempting to keep the person who has stopped breathing from dying. With mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, air is forced, at regular intervals, from the lungs of the rescuer or emergency care giver into the lungs of the victim or patient who has stopped breathing.
Classic mouth-to-mouth resuscitation requires direct contact between the mouth of the rescuer and the mouth of the victim. Consequently, rescuers using classic mouth-to-mouth techniques are at risk of catching communicable diseases from the victim. In addition, victims may have blood or other body fluids in their mouths or on their lips. This leads to even greater risk of contracting blood and fluid born diseases such as AIDS and hepatitis if mouth-to-mouth resuscitation is administered using classic techniques. This risk to emergency care workers and others who are called upon to administer mouth-to-mouth resuscitation led to a U.S. Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulation regarding occupational exposure to blood borne pathogens such as those which cause AIDS and hepatitis. The regulation, which went into effect on Jun. 4, 1992, requires all employers to protect employees from occupational exposure to the AIDS virus (HIV) and other blood borne disease-causing agents. With this regulation in force, the teaching of classic mouth-to-mouth resuscitation techniques which require direct skin, fitlid or gas contact is prohibited. Instead, employees must be taught to use protective interface devices when administering mouth-to-mouth resuscitation so that direct skin contact, and fitlid or gas exchange between the rescuer and victim is eliminated.
A number of protective interface devices are available which have been designed to protect rescuers and emergency care workers called upon to administer mouth-to-mouth type resuscitation to a victim or patient who is "on land". These devices include: the Assisted Breathing Interface Device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,886,057 issued Dec. 12, 1989 to Nave; the Compact Disposable Mouth-To-Mouth Resuscitation Device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,909,245 issued Mar. 20, 1990 to Wollenkaupt; the Isolation Valve disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,005,568 issued Apr. 9, 1991 to Loescher et al.; the Resuscitation Aids disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,998,530 and 5,095,898 issued Mar. 12, 1991 and Mar. 17, 1992, respectively, to Michael; and the Mouth-To-Mouth With Valve And Barrier device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,119,809 issued Jun. 9, 1992 to Gerson. Unfortunately, none of these interface devices are really suitable for use if the victim is in the water, when it is often necessary to provide aid from either side, or from behind the victim. These prior devices are also not suitable for use as a snorkel if the water or land victim is capable of breathing on his or her own, but needs a "snorkel" to reach a source of fresh air. In addition, presently available interface devices are also not entirely suitable for use with victims who can breath on their own, since presently available devices do not indicate to the aid giver that a victim is breathing. Thus there is a need for an assisted breathing interface device which not only assures that the rescuer or aid giver will not come in contact with the victim's lips, exhaled air or body fluids, but can be used "on land" or "in the water", to provide mouth to mouth type resuscitation to a victim who is in the water. In addition, there is a need for an assisted breathing interface device that can also function as a "snorkel" , and for an assisted breathing device that, when used with a victim who can breath on his or her own, will indicate to the aid giver that the victim is breathing. The present invention has been developed to address these and related needs.